Unfortunately, my shower floor troubles continue. I have an idea of what the tile pros here will say, but your confirmation would be most helpful. An update on my story since my last post here, followed by a few photos:
Cain came by to look at my issues and advised me to let the original tile guy give his proposed correction a shot and see what happens, then go from there if the problems continue. That correction was to pull up the floor tiles in the areas that were staying wet, fix the slope in the mortar bed, and replace those tiles. He did this work on 12/15. He also insisted on sealing the grout (even though we used an admix) because he continued to believe that sealing the grout would keep water from seeping through the shower floor grout lines. I would not have let him seal the grout, but he quickly sprayed some sealer on the floor when I was out of the room for a few minutes. The grout was sealed on 12/18.
Everything seemed to be fine at first, but three months later (around 3/11) I noticed that one of the grout lines was staying wet again. Then a grout line along a second wall started staying wet. Two weeks ago, I did a major shower floor cleaning with Aqua Mix Concentrated Stone and Tile Cleaner (before that I had been cleaning only with clear water). I let the diluted cleaner “dwell” on the floor for a few minutes per the instructions. Since that cleaning, all of the areas that had been repaired have been staying wet again. Sometimes some of the areas will dry out a little between showers but never completely; spots of dark wet grout remain along the grout line that has mostly dried out.
At first, I thought perhaps this was happening because the heat was running less as the outside temps warmed up, and I continue to think that may be contributing to the varying degree of wetness that I see. But I think the problem really is that the slope issues are in the layers below the mortar bed and that it just took a while for the wetness to build back up to the grout line after the repair. And the only way to correct the slope is to pull out the entire floor and start over. Cain said he could never get the bottom row of wall tile back on the wall flat with the rest of the wall (I don’t think anyone could), and that he would recommend a complete shower tear-out if the repair job didn’t work. So that is what I am afraid I am looking at to fix this problem. I have not yet contacted the original tile guy because I want to see what you guys say first. I do not think the original tile guy is going to rebuild the shower even if we purchase the tile (and I’m not sure we want him to at this point), so we would bear the total cost of the shower rebuild.
I also want to ask what will happen if we do nothing? Right now I am seeing no signs of mildew, but will that come later as the shower is used over a longer period of time? I want to fix the problem now, but my husband will surely ask this question. If we delay the rebuild, I would probably go ahead and purchase the tile we need and store it. We used the same tile throughout the bathroom and I don’t want to change the look.
Photos:
First a few from the repair:
The wet grout lines showing up:
First just the short line on the left wall:
Then the middle of the back wall and small place in right back corner:
After the cleaning, the longer line on the left, the center of the back, larger area in the right back corner, and the right wall (hard to see because of the glass and angle):
I have close-ups of all of the above but hopefully you get the idea from these. As always, thanks in advance for your most helpful opinions and advice!
